“That’s good to hear.”


    The Millford chief was clearly pleased.


    He’d been waiting for that exact response, and it hade sooner than expected.


    The Ravenshore chief clearly understood how things worked.


    He yed along perfectly.


    That alone earned some satisfaction from the Millford side.


    “Alright then, let’s leave it at that. I’ll hang up now


    Once they ended the call, the Ravenshore chief looked through the documents that had juste in.


    A sense of relief settled over him.


    Then, as soon as he saw Tessa’s name, his entire badly stiffened.


    He suddenly shot to his feet. “That name… it’s so familiar.‘


    He flipped rapidly through the files until he found it–Aurora Walton.


    Newly appointed general manager of Walton Corporation.


    She was young and aplished.


    The chief sank back into his chair, everything starting to fall into ce.


    Now it all made sense.


    He finally knew who these two really were.


    Tessa and Julian were engaged.


    And now, these two had tried to harm Aurora.


    If that got out, people wouldugh them out of the room.


    The only reason this case had taken so long was because Lucas had been quietly keeping it under


    Wraps


    He’d instructed the department to stick strictly to procedure, no matter what.


    Everything else was up to them.


    Lucas had even expressed his full confidence in the department’s ability to handle it.


    After that, he said nothing more.


    But the message was loud and clear


    With his backing, even if those two didn’t die in there, they were going toe out in pieces.


    After all, Tessa was still part of the picture–he had to consider Grace’s position to some extent.


    She was Aurora’s older sister, after all.


    That familial tie deserved at least a bit of respect.


    But if they chose to protect her, they needed to be ready to face the consequences.


    The Ravenshore chief felt another wave of headacheing on.


    At first, he thought it was just a simple case of someone being drugged.


    But now, it was clearly tied to deeper family secrets.


    He truly didn’t want to know any of this.


    Why did he, a small–town chief, have to get dragged into the mess of powerful families?


    He took a deep breath.


    After turning it over in his mind several times, he finally decided–he had to inform both Tessa’s and Julian’s families.


    This was no longer something he could resolve alone.


    Based on the current evidence, Julian seemed to bear more of the me.


    But now his mental state had be unstable.


    Just thinking about it made the chief’s head pound.


    He never imagined things would escte like this.


    When the Millford chief first told him the two were from Ravenshore, he’d assumed they were just regr people who got into trouble abroad.


    Since they were citizens, of course they needed to be brought home.


    Now the Ravenshore chief was filled with regret.


    Why had he agreed so quickly back then?


    Why did he let a moment of sympathy pull him into his?


    He should’ve just stuck to doing his job–kept his head down and not meddled.


    But it was toote to feel regret now.


    If he’d only asked for their names up front, none of his would’ve happened.


    With that thought, all he could feel was helplessness.


    He nced at the time.


    It was the afternoon–perfect timing to summon beth families in,


    ?